KEITH COMBS LEADS DAY TWO AT FALCON

Posted by Mark Jeffreys on 03/22/2013

Story by Matt Pangrac and Dave Rush - Photos by Dave Rush and Matt Pangrac

Zapata, Texas – The top of the leaderboard remained the same on Friday at the Elite Series stop on Falcon Lake. Entering the day with a 4-pound lead over 2nd place thanks to a 34-13 effort on Thursday, Texas’ Keith Combs crossed the weigh-in stage with another 28-1 on Friday. He opened up a 7-7 lead heading into the weekend.

Edwin Evers has the task of trying to track down Combs. The Oklahoma pro weighed-in a 28-15 limit on Friday to finish in 2nd place with a total weight of 55-7. Fellow Oklahoman, Jason Christie, finished the day in 3rd place with a two day total weight of 54-pounds.

The big move of the day went to Cliff Crochet, who weighed-in an impressive 35-3 limit of Falcon Lake largemouth to vault from 50th place on Thursday to 4th place on Friday with a total weight of 53-15. In all, six anglers crossed the stage with limits of at least 30-pounds.

1st Place: Keith Combs (34-13, 28-1: 62-14)What were your expectations heading into the day?“I thought that I was going to catch them where I caught my limit yesterday. I ended up having some unwanted company on my starting spot today. It wasn’t that I couldn’t fish my water, but there are two key deals that are maybe 100 yards apart and I really wanted to be able to fish one spot and let the other one rest. I just wasn’t able to do that this morning.”

How would you summarize your day as a whole? “I didn’t have a fish until about 10:00 today. I ran to a new place that I didn’t fish yesterday and I caught a big one and two other keepers. I caught another one that was about 5-pounds off of another new spot, and that’s how the rest of the day went – it was pretty much one fish per spot the rest of the day. I’d pull in and make 10 or 15 casts on a spot and then move on to the next one.”

Was there a key moment for you during the day?“There really wasn’t a key moment for me today. I had a 2-pounder in the livewell with three minutes to go and I was able to cull that fish with a 6-pounder. An hour earlier, I caught my biggest fish and a 4-pounder off of one spot, so I guess that was a key moment.”

What was the most challenging/surprising aspect of your day?“I just never really seemed to settle down during the day.”

How would you assess your decision making and execution on the water?“I put everything in the boat today and that was the big key for me. My fish are coming on a treble hook and I don’t think I hooked one completely in the mouth today. My execution has been perfect for the last two days, but it’s been stressful on me. All the fish seem to be just skin-hooked around the nostrils, but I’ve been able to land them.”

2nd Place: Edwin Evers (26-8, 28-15: 55-7)What were your expectations heading into the day?“I thought that I could catch them. I had one really good day in practice but my other two days of practice really stunk. I had the best day of my life one of the days of practice where I’d just pull up and catch giants. The last two days, I’ve had a couple of big bites but I’ve had to weigh-in some little ones.”

How would you summarize your day as a whole? “It was horribly slow. I didn’t have a limit until probably 11:00 or 12:00.”

Was there a key moment for you during the day?“The big fish that I caught today came doing something completely different than what I’d been doing, and it came on the second cast after I changed what I was doing. It was completely off the wall and it was the only bite that I had doing that specific technique.”

What was the most challenging/surprising aspect of your day?“It was just calm and quiet out there today because the wind didn’t blow at all. From what I hear, it’s going to blow tomorrow and that could make things pretty tough out there.”

How would you assess your decision making and execution on the water? “I lost a couple of big ones today that I would have really liked to have in my bag.”

3rd Place – Jason Christie (28-15, 25-1: 54-0)What were your expectations heading into the day?“I really had no expectations. I’m just going fishing and I caught them a totally different way than I did yesterday.”

How would you summarize your day as a whole? “I had 16-pounds at 2:00 and then I caught two good ones. I’m just kind of fishing. I’m not dialed in at all, and I’m just going fishing. It’s really aggravating because you just don’t know where the next bite is going to come from. I’m fishing shallow and deep and you just don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

What was the most challenging/surprising aspect of your day?“What really hurt the shallow bite for me was the lack of wind. A little wind would really position the fish a little bit. The challenging thing is that I just don’t know when the next bite is going to come.”

How would you assess your decision making and execution on the water?“I had two big bites today that I didn’t catch. I actually saw one of them that came off, but I caught a 7-pounder on the next cast.”

4th Place: Cliff Crochet (18-12, 35-3: 53-15)What were your expectations heading into the day?"I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that I fished through my area way to fast yesterday, and that I needed to slow down and really work it over today if I could."

How would you summarize your day as a whole?"I went to an area where I got a few big bites in practice this morning. I just dropped my trolling motor and slowed down and fish because the wind wasn't quite as bad. I just went to work and did my deal, and got really fortunate to land the big fish that bit today and get them out of the trees."

Was there a key moment for you during the day?"The key moment of my day was catching that ten pounder, which is my biggest fish ever. It really gave me the confidence I needed to know that my area was the right one and I needed to stick with it."

What was the most challenging/surprising aspect of your day?"Just catching all those big fish. I really didn't know what was going on, I just knew I kept getting big bite after big bite."

How would you assess your decision making and execution on the water?"I would say my execution was 100% today. I didn't lose any fish that would have helped me, and my decision making was good also."

5th Place: Cliff Prince (30-13, 22-12: 53-9)What were your expectations heading into the day?"I was hoping to start offshore and catch a good one and finish out a limit flipping. That is pretty much how it ended up going, so I am pleased with that."

How would you summarize your day as a whole?"I struggled to catch what I caught today. My area got really beat up today, and I think we pretty much burnt it up today."

Was there a key moment for you during the day?"Catching that 9-6 was the key for me today. If I wouldn't have had that I really wouldn't have had anything today."

What was the most challenging/surprising aspect of your day?"Just grinding it out up in the bushes with those other guys. I had three or four other anglers fishing with me that are some of the best at flipping bushes that there are, so that was a challenge."

How would you assess your decision making and execution on the water?"I lost a few fish today, but I really don't think any of them would have helped my stringer."